This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional application 60/128,651, filed on Apr. 8, 1999.
This invention relates to the deposition of plant storage reserve materials (e.g., seed reserve material), the biogenesis of storage organelles, and the production of transgenic plants having altered storage reserve profiles.
Flowering plants deposit extra food reserves in their seeds to support young seedling growth. The storage compounds in various seeds are principally composed of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. The relative amounts of these substances, however, differ widely among species (Bewley and Black, Seeds: Physiology of Development and Germination, Plenum Press, New York, 2nd edition, Chap 1, 1994). For instance, cereal plants deposit relatively more carbohydrates, while legume seeds and oilseeds contain relatively more proteins and lipids, respectively (Bewley and Black, supra; Vitale and Bollini, In: Seed Development and Germination, J. Kigel and G. Galili, eds., Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1995, pp. 73-102; Miquel and Browse, ibid, pp. 169-193). Although these variations are largely controlled by genetic factors, the molecular mechanisms that account for these different developmental programs for storage deposition are mostly unknown.
Directly and indirectly (through feeding to livestock), seeds also make up the major sources of human diet. Therefore, improving the nutritive value of crop seeds has been of great interest. The efforts to date, however, have been made mainly through breeding (Payne, In: Seed Proteins, J. Daussant, J. Mosse, and J. Vaughan, eds. Academic Press, London, 1983, pp. 223-253; W. Gottschalk and H. P. Muller, eds, Seed Proteins: Biochemistry, Genetics, Nutritive Value, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1983).